Judith Arndt
(Team Columbia Highroad Women) won the first stage of the 22nd running of
Emakumeen Bira, a stage round the town of Iurreta. Following an
injury-blighted first half of the season, Judith Arndt’s successful return
to racing has now seen the German star take her first victory of 2009. The
Columbia-Highroad rider was the fastest in a 19-rider sprint that decided
the 78-kilometre stage starting and finishing in Lurreta, and is now race
leader of the prestigious Spanish event. Second was Great Britain’s
Nicole Cooke and third Emma Johannson of Sweden.

A number of
teams made the long trip from Montreal and Philadelphia races to take part
in the Bira event.

The race was fast and the peloton compact covering the course in an
average speed of 40.8 km/hr. There were some noteworthy attempts to break
away on the first ascension of the high Aretxabalgane climb.

The first attack was from Adrie Viser (DSB Bank) then as the race
continued the battle for the queen of the mountain became a battle of the
big teams and their climbers. The decisive move was on the last climb when
Team Columbia's Mara Abbott attacked and created some gaps in the chasing
peloton. As the race came back together on the decent, Abbotts's team mate
Kim Anderson moved to the front to set up the run to the finish for team
mate Arndt.

The
Columbia-Highroad rider was the fastest in a 19-rider sprint ahead of the
2008 Olympic Champion Nicole Cooke (Vision 1) and Emma Johannson (Red Sun
Cycling)

Judith Arndt
had a very tough spring in which she first broke a collarbone and then was
unlucky enough to fracture her wrist in a crash in her first race back in
April. She returned to racing in the GP Montreal in Canada and
since then has made fast progress towards top condition.

“It was a great day’s riding by the team and payday for Judith
after working so hard to come back ,” commented sports director
Ronny Lauke. “Mara [Abbott] went for it with an attack on the last
climb of the day, and then when part of the race came back together, [Kim]
Anderson gave Judith the perfect lead-out in the sprint finish. We
could see that she was getting better and better after taking second in a
one-day race in Spain earlier this week. Then today it all came
together in a big way.”

Arndt was equally delighted to have taken her first victory since the Tour
of Tuscany last September.“It
was a tough sprint because you never know what’s going to happen with
rivals as tough as Johannsen and Cooke. But I thought I would give
it a try and it all worked out fine in the end.”

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